The Big Picture · Discussion
May 21, 2026/ 114 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins record from Cannes on Amanda's last morning, recapping their first festival: what they loved, what flopped, and what left them baffled, plus Palme d'Or predictions.
22 films across 4 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The goodthe films they liked
Jordan Firstman's Un Certain Regard debut, Sean's favorite of the festival. Set among club kids in 2016 New York, it pivots from in-your-face comedy to a sincere drama about parenthood. Produced in part by Alex Coco (Anora), acquired by A24.
Cristian Mungiu's new film and Sean's pre-festival Palme pick. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a religious Romanian family that immigrates to progressive Norway. Sean's read: this year's Anatomy of a Fall.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's 196-minute film about elder care, capitalism and human connection, with Virginie Efira. Includes a 12-minute whiteboard lecture on capitalism; both hosts were dubious at the midpoint and in tears by the end.
James Gray's Queens crime drama, set in 1986, with Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson. Sean, who finds Gray's world eerily close to his own family's, calls it near his best; from Neon in the fall.
Andrey Zvyagintsev's return, a remake of Chabrol's The Unfaithful Wife reset against the Russia-Ukraine war. Plays as a thriller for 90 minutes, then turns overtly metaphorical. Iris Lebedeva and Anatoly Belay star.
Jane Schoenbrun's meta-slasher with Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder, in Un Certain Regard. Amanda's favorite Schoenbrun; poppier and more accessible than I Saw the TV Glow. Opens in August.
Pawel Pawlikowski's first film since Cold War, black-and-white, about Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika returning to Germany after WWII. Sub-75 minutes, with Sandra Huller and August Diehl. Leading the Cannes critics' poll.
Koji Fukada's quiet, play-based drama set in a small Japanese town near a military base. About artists, lost loves and self-discovery; Amanda's word for it was 'lovely.'
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's first samurai film, out of competition. A 15th-century samurai lord plays Sherlock Holmes to a captured enemy's Watson. Masahiro Motoki and Masaki Suda star; borderline rapturous reviews.
The badgreat filmmakers, lesser films
Asghar Farhadi's French-language film, a soft adaptation of Kieslowski, with Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Cassel, Virginie Efira and Catherine Deneuve. In competition and, both hosts agreed, a dull misuse of its stars.
Hirokazu Kore-eda's in-competition film about grieving parents who replace their dead son with an AI double. Sean found it wandering and vague; Amanda skipped it on his warning.
Steven Soderbergh's documentary on John Lennon's final interview, given to three San Francisco radio hosts the day he died. Torpedoed for both hosts by cheap AI-generated animation.
Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) on hive-mind, ant-colony zombies. Sean liked the core idea but found no characters of interest and leaden storytelling.
Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole) in Directors' Fortnight, on masculinity in a Circassian immigrant community in New Jersey. With Barry Keoghan, Harry Melling and Riley Keough. Uneven; panned early.
The WTFthe swings and the scandals
Na Hong-jin's (The Wailing) big-budget alien-invasion thriller, incongruously in competition. A 45-minute pre-CGI opening set piece the hosts loved, plus rough monster effects and a 2-hour-40 runtime. Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell.
Ken Russell's scandalous 1971 film, with Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, screened in Russell's director's cut as the first release from Warner's new Clockwork imprint. A festival highlight for Sean; U.S. theaters in October.
Arthur Harari (co-writer of Anatomy of a Fall) on a body-and-soul swap triggered by sex with a stranger. Grim, Lynch- and Bunuel-adjacent; Lea Seydoux stars with about 25 lines of dialogue. Divisive.
European excursionsand one documentary
Pedro Almodovar back in Spanish, already open in Europe. A fiasco for 90 minutes, then a hysterical final 15 about inspiration and where an artist's ideas come from. Barbara Lenny in the cast.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen's film with Javier Bardem as a director casting his estranged adult daughter. Amanda's label: 'normie Sentimental Value,' saved by one strong making-of set piece.
Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet on a surgeon weighing how much she wants to work versus live. Fine, not bad; structured in chapters, one titled 'having it all.'
Marie Kreutzer (Corsage) with Lea Seydoux as a mother whose husband is arrested on child-pornography charges, and Catherine Deneuve. Amanda found it grim and provocative, but ultimately hollow.
Ron Howard's documentary portrait of fashion photographer Richard Avedon, presented by Howard at Cannes. Standard but comprehensive, and mercifully AI-free.
Also mentioned raised along the way
James Gray's world Armageddon TimeWe Own the NightLittle Odessa
Comparisons and touchstones Anatomy of a FallParasiteEddingtonKramer vs. KramerRequiem for a DreamThe Unfaithful WifeUnfaithfulLeviathanThe WailingTrain to BusanCold WarIdaCloudChimeSerpent's PathCureCorsageShopliftersA.I. Artificial IntelligenceDrive My CarI Saw the TV GlowRotting in the SunAnoraBeanpoleSentimental ValueThe Secret AgentBabylonThree Colors: Red
Other Cannes 2026 titles mentioned The Entertainment SystemLa Bola NegraThe Man I LoveMoulinGaranceCoward
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV I Love LASquid GameDekalog
Ads FIFA World Cup Launch Edition (Netflix)Nordstrom RackOllipop